Qeya River my head says i never should've left

didn't know if you wanted me to go again!! ice diver is next but if star eater wants to hop in again, i have no objections! :D

gjalla’s words linger like acid in his throat. her leaving feels heavier than it should. his jaw tightens, muscles flickering beneath his onyx coat. so little ground he had managed to reclaim. and the wince on his face is fleeting, yet unmistakable. crimson eyes blink once before shifting from gjalla’s retreating form to the imposing figure of ice diver. and then, further still, catching a smaller, distant shape—a woman (@Star Eater) watching him as if he were the embodiment of hell on earth.

ice diver’s voice wrenches him back. blackfell’s ears twitch, flattening slightly as he meets her eyes. there’s no arrogance in his stance now, no trace of the smugness he’d worn like armor around gjalla. instead, his head lowers, his broad shoulders dipping just enough to show deference.

he’s no stranger to submission when it’s required, no stranger to the weight of authority pressing down on him. it had been beaten into him more than once by a father no more cruel than necessary, and had molded him into the soldier his father demanded. and so, he answers:

i’m at your command.